Control4, perhaps best known for its iconic (static) home page, is letting dealers get a little groovy with their home automation systems.

At CEDIA Expo 2009, Control4 is showing OS 2.0, which allows integrators to design their own GUIs, at least to some extent.

"There's more flexibility and personalization around the GUI," says Control4 president Glen Mella. "We've always been the guys with one default screen. Now, if you want just TV and music in a room, then you can do that level of customization."

During a sneak preview before CEDIA, John Yoon, director of marketing demonstrated a "global" thermostat view, in which users could navigate through all of the home's thermostats.

Previously, you had to back in and out of the various rooms to get to each thermostat.

You can change icons and backgrounds, using your own, or the options that Control4 provides.

Biker chick that…

Since CE Pro broke the news on Crestron Prodigy, we've had an unprecedented behind-the-scenes look at the new low-cost control system from the company best known for pricey products.

During a recent tour of Crestron, led by CEO and founder George Feldstein, I got to see all of the little goodies that will comprise a Prodigy home automation system.

First of all, Crestron wants to make it perfectly clear that the company did not launch Prodigy to "go after" Control4 or any other low-cost home automation provider, according to executive VP Randy Klein.

"We developed a line that is consistent with what we've been doing," he says. "Prodigy broadens the market."

Klein acknowledges that some Crestron dealers also offer lower-cost lines. "We would love to have them use us," he says.

Klein believes Crestron can beat out other players in the world of affordable automation because of the company's heritage.

Honeywell’s new Energy Internet Connection Module (ICM) not only helps homeowners conserve up to 15 percent of their energy use by managing their consumption online, it’s extremely simple for custom installers to retrofit.

With the module, dealers no longer have to worry about digging through walls to fish a Cat 5 cable to the thermostat from the home Web router.

At the furnace, integrators simply run the three-wire thermostat connection to the module, and then run a Cat 5 from the Energy ICM to the router.

By logging onto a secure Web site, users can remotely access information about the amount of energy being expended through heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems.

Parameters can cover temperature ranges, time of day, seasons of the year, etc. The system can communicate with home alarm systems and send email notifications when the temperature deviates from the parameters set. It also stores reports for the homeowner.

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Posted by Jason Knott on 09/06 at 09:14 AM
News, Product News, HVAC, Retrofit, CEDIA, Permalink